E 

90 

C6T62 


First  Indian 
Interpreter 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


COCKENOE-DE-LONG  ISLAND 


fi&ftlon  Xfmfted 
Go  215  Copies. 


No.. 


JOHN   ELIOT'S 

FIRST  INDIAN  TEACHER  AND 
INTERPRETER 

COCKENOE-DE-LONG  ISLAND 

AND 

The  Story  of  His  Career  from  the  Early  Records 


BY 

WILLIAM  WALLACE  TOOKER 

Member  of  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society,  Anthropological 
Society  of  Washington,  etc.,  etc. 


"  He  was  the  first  that  I  made  use  of  to  teach  me  words 
and  to  be  my  interpreter." — Eliofs  Letter,  a,  12,  1648. 


LONDON: 

HENRY  STEVENS'  SON  AND  STILES. 

1896 


JOHN   ELIOT'S 

FIRST  INDIAN  TEACHER  AND 
INTERPRETER 

COCKENOE-DE-LONG  ISLAND 

AND 

The  Story  of  His  Career  from  the  Early  Records 


BY 

WILLIAM   WALLACE   TOOKER 

Member  of  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society,  Anthropological 
Society  of  Washington,  etc.,  etc. 


"  He  was  the  first  that  I  made  use  of  to  teach  me  words 
and  to  be  my  interpreter." — Eliofs  Letter,  a,  12,  1648. 


LONDON: 

HENRY  STEVENS'  SON  AND  STILES. 

\  1896 


RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED  TO  THE  OFFICERS  AND  MEMBERS 

OF    THE    SUFFOLK    COUNTY    (N.    Y.)    HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY  BY  YOUR   FELLOW  MEMBER 

WILLIAM    WALLACE    TOOKER. 


INTRODUCTION. 


This  little  work  is  a  brief  rdsumd  of  the 
career  of  an  Indian  of  Long  Island,  who,  from 
his  exceptional  knowledge  of  the  English  lan- 
guage, his  traits  of  character,  and  strong  per- 
sonality, was  recognized  as  a  valuable  coadjutor 
and  interpreter  by  many  of  our  first  English 
settlers.  These  personal  attributes  were  also 
known  and  appreciated  by  the  inhabitants  of 
some  parts  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  by 
the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  of 
New  England,  and  by  the  Governor  of  the 
Colony  of  New  York,  all  of  whom  found  occa- 
sion for  his  services  in  their  transactions  with 
the  Indians.  The  facts  which  I  shall  present  in 
their  chronological  order,  and  the  strong  circum- 
stantial evidence  adduced  therefrom,  will  indi- 
cate the  reasons  why  I  have  unraveled  the 

vii 


viii  Introduction. 

threads  of  this  Indian's  life  from  the  weft  of  the 
past,  and  why  the  recital  of  his  career  should  be 
the  theme  of  a  special  essay,  and  worthy  of  a 
distinctive  chapter  in  the  aboriginal,  as  well  as 
in  the  Colonial,  history  of  Long  Island. 

WILLIAM  WALLACE  TOOKER. 

SAG  HARBOR,  L.  I.,  March,  1896. 


COCKENOE-DE-LONG  ISLAND. 


THE  victory  of  Captain  John  Mason  and 
Captain  John  Underhill  over  the  Pe- 
quots  on  the  hills  of  Mystic,  in  1637,  in 
its  results  was  far  greater  than  that  of  Welling- 
ton on  the  field  of  Waterloo.  This  fact  will 
impress  itself  in  indelible  characters  on  the 
minds  of  those  who  delve  into  the  historical 
truths  connected  with  the  genesis  of  our  settle- 
ments, so  wide  spreading  were  the  fruits  of  this 
victory.  As  the  native  inhabitants  of  the  eastern 
part  of  Long  Island  and  the  adjacent  islands 
were  subjects  of,  and  under  tribute  to,  these 


io  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

dreaded  Pequots,1  they  were  more  or  less  dis- 
turbed by  the  issues  of  the  after  conflicts  which 
ensued  in  hunting  out  the  fleeing  survivors. 
But  as  two  of  the  Long  Island  Sachems,  Yoco, 
the  Sachem  of  Shelter  Island,  and  Wyandanch, 
the  Sachem  of  Montauk,  through  the  mediation 
of  their  friend  Lion  Gardiner  came  three  days 
after  the  fight,  and  placed  themselves  under  the 
protection  of  the  victors,2  and,  as  the  latter  with 
his  men  assisted  Captain  Stoughton  during  the 
finale  at  the  "  Great  Swamp," 3  beyond  New 
Haven,  they  did  not  feel  the  effects  so  severely 
as  did  the  immediate  allies  of  the  Pequots. 

1 "  The  Pequots  were  a  very  warlike  and  potent  people  about  forty 
years  since,  (1624)  at  which  time  they  were  in  their  meridian.  Their 
chief  Sachem  held  dominion  over  divers  petty  Sagamores,  as  over  part  of 
Long  Island,  over  the  Mohegans,  and  over  the  Sagamores  of  Quinapak, 
yea,  over  all  the  people  that  dwelt  on  Connecticut  river,  and  over  some 
of  the  most  southerly  inhabitants  of  the  Nipmuk  country  about  Quina- 
bang." — Gookin's  History. 

Gardiner's  Relation  of  the  Pequot  Wars  (Lion  Gardiner  and  his  Descend- 
ants,  by  C.  C.  Gardiner,  1890)  :  "  Then  said  he,  (Waiandance)  I  will  go 
to  my  brother,  for  he  is  the  great  Sachem  of  Long  Island,  and  if  we 
may  have  peace  and  trade  with  you,  we  will  give  you  tribute  as  we  did 
the  Pequits." 

s  Relation  of  the  Pequot  Wars  (Lion  Gardiner  and  his  Descendants, 
by  C.  C.  Gardiner,  1890),  p.  17. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  17,  1 8. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  1 1 

Many  of  the  younger  Indians  captured  in  this 
war,  especially  those  taken  in  Connecticut,  were 
carried  to  Boston,  and  there  sold  into  slavery, 
or  distributed  around  the  country  into  a  limited 
period  of  servitude4 — a  period  generally  termi- 
nating when  the  individual  so  bound  had 
arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-five. 

Among  those  so  captured  and  allotted  was  a 
young  Indian  of  Long  Island,  who  became  a 
servant  in  the  family  of  a  prominent  citizen  of 
Dorchester,  Mass.,5  a  sergeant  in  the  same  war, 
and  therefore  possibly  his  captor.  This  young 
Indian  having  been  a  native  of  Long  Island, 
and  on  a  visit,  was  perhaps  a  reason  why  he  was 
detained  in  the  colony,  for  the  young  male 
Pequots,  we  are  told,  were  all  expatriated.6 

4  Morton's  New  England's  Memorial,  1669,  Reprint  1855,  p.  131  : 
"  We  send  the  male  children  to  Bermuda  by  Mr.  William  Pierce,  and 
the  women  and  maid  children  are  disposed  about  in  the  towns." 

8  ' '  Richard  Collacot  was  a  prominent  man  in  Dorchester.  He  had  been 
a  sergeant  in  the  Pequot  War,  and  held  also  at  various  times  the  offices 
of  Selectman  and  of  Representative."  In  1641,  with  two  associates,  he 
was  licensed  by  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  to  trade  with  the  Indians, 
also  to  receive  all  wampum  due  for  any  tribute  from  Block  Island,  Long 
Island  Pequots  or  any  other  Indians. — Archaeologia  Americana,  vol.  vii. 
pp.  67,  434. 

'  New  England's  Memorial,  1669.     Reprint  1855,  p.  131. 


1 2  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

In  proof  of  these  findings  of  fact  we  have  the 
testimony  of  the  Rev.  John  Eliot,  than  whom 
no  one  is  better  known  for  his  labors  in  behalf 
of  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Indians  of  eastern 
Massachusetts,  and  for  his  works  in  their  lan- 
guage, including  that  monumental  work  which 
went  through  two  editions,  Eliot's  Indian  Bible. 
It  is  thought  that  Eliot  began  his  study  of 
the  Indian  language  about  1643,  but  it  is  possi- 
ble that  he  began  much  earlier.  In  a  letter 
dated  February  12,  1649  (2-i2-'48),  he  wrote: 

"  There  is  an  Indian  living  with  Mr.  Richard 
Calicott  of  Dorchester,  who  was  taken  in  the 
Pequott  warres,  though  belonging  to  Long 
Island.  This  Indian  is  ingenious,  can  read,  and 
I  taught  him  to  write,  which  he  quickly  learnt, 
though  I  know  not  what  use  he  now  maketh  of 
it.  He  was  the  first  that  I  made  use  of  to  teach 
me  words,  and  to  be  my  interpreter." 

At  the  end  of  his  Indian  grammar  (printed  at 
Cambridge  in  1666)  Mr.  Eliot  gives  us  an 
account  of  his  method  of  learning  the  language 
and  some  more  information  in  regard  to  this 
young  Long  Island  Indian.  He  writes :  "  I 


t*l,  JWrJ***  £***  ^E?r  fftl 


Indi 


THE 


an 

O    R, 

The  way  nf  rrammg  op  of  our 
J^i.i«   Twtb  in  the   gTOit 
knowledge  of  God,  in  tfic  ^1 
knowledge  of  ihcScrijj:ur 
andin  an  abUiry  to  Bca^e. 


» 


'*  I'uw.  j  14,15.  &ut  btf.nw.  SJ 

J^T_^         "V_          V  J>         fSii 

tuffUMXiTi  * 

it  wab:*Att 


I       % 


* 


FAC-SIMILE  OF  THE  TITLE-PAGE  OF  THE  PRIMER  OF  1669. 


Cockenoe-de- Long  Island.  13 

have  now  finished  what  I  shall  do  at  present ; 
and  in  a  word  or  two  to  satisfie  the  prudent  En- 
quirer how  I  found  out  these  new  ways  of  gram- 
mar, which  no  other  Learned  Language  (so 
farre  as  I  know)  useth  ;  I  thus  inform  him  :  God 
first  put  into  my  heart  a  compassion  over  their 
poor  souls,  and  a  desire  to  teach  them  to  know 
Christ,  and  to  bring  them  into  his  kingdome. 
Then  presently  I  found  out,  (by  Gods  wise 
providence)  a  pregnant  witted  young  man,  who 
had  been  a  servant  in  an  English  house,  who 
pretty  well  understood  our  Language,  better 
than  he  could  speak  it,  and  well  understood  his 
own  Language,  and  hath  a  clear  pronuncia- 
tion ;  Him  I  made  my  Interpreter.  By  his  help 
I  translated  the  Commandments,  the  Lords 
Prayer,  and  many  Texts  of  Scripture  :  also  I 
compiled  both  exhortations  and  prayers  by  his 
help,  I  diligently  marked  the  difference  of  their 
grammar  from  ours  ;  when  I  found  the  way  of 
them,  I  would  pursue  a  Word,  a  Noun,  a  Verb, 
through  all  the  variations  I  could  think  of. 
We  must  sit  still  and  look  for  Miracles  ;  up,  and 
be  doing,  and  the  Lord  will  be  with  thee. 


14  Cockenoe-de- Long  Island. 

Prayer  and  pains  through  Faith  in  Christ  Jesus, 
will  do  anything." 

In  1646  Mr.  Eliot  began  to  preach  to  the 
Indians  in  their  own  tongue.  About  the  middle 
of  September  he  addressed  a  company  of  the 
natives  in  the  wigwam  of  Cutshamoquin,  the 
Sachem  of  Neponset,  within  the  limits  of  Dor- 
chester. His  next  attempt  was  made  among 
the  Indians  of  another  place,  "  those  of  Dor- 
chester mill  not  regarding  any  such  thing."  On 
the  28th  of  October  he  delivered  a  sermon 
before  a  large  number  assembled  in  the  prin- 
cipal wigwam  of  a  chief  named  Waban,  situated 
four  or  five  miles  from  Roxbury,  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Charles  river,  near  Watertown  mill, 
now  in  the  township  of  Newton.  The  services 
were  commenced  with  prayer,  which,  as  Mr. 
Shepard  relates,  "  now  was  in  English,  being  not 
so  farre  acquainted  with  the  Indian  language  as 
to  expresse  our  hearts  herein  before  God  or 
them."  After  Mr.  Eliot  had  finished  his  dis- 
course, which  was  in  the  Indian  language,  he 
"asked  them  if  they  understood  all  that  which 
was  already  spoken,  and  whether  all  of  them  in 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  1 5 

the  wigwam  did  understand,  or  onely  some  few  ? 
and  they  answered  to  this  question  with  mul- 
titude of  voyces,  that  they  all  of  them  did  under- 
stand all  that  which  was  then  spoken  to  them." 
He  then  replied  to  a  number  of  questions  which 
they  propounded  to  him,  "borrowing  now  and 
then  some  small  helpefrom  the  Interpreter  whom 
wee  brought  with  us,  and  who  could  oftentimes 
expresse  our  minds  more  distinctly  than  any  of  us 
could."  Three  more  meetings  were  held  at  this 
place  in  November  and  December  of  the  same 
year,  accounts  of  which  are  given  by  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Shepard  in  the  tract,  entitled,  The  Day- 
Breaking,  if  not  the  Sun-Rising  of  the  Gospell 
with  the  Indians  in  New  England,  Lon- 
don, 1647.  I  have  quoted  these  letters  and 
remarks  from  the  interesting  notes  on  John 
Eliot's  life,  contributed  to  Filling's  Algonquian 
Bibliography,7  by  Mr.  Wilberforce  Eames  of  the 
Lenox  Library,  New  York. 

As  Mr.  Eliot    in  the   foregoing   letters   has 
testified  to  what  extent  he  was  indebted  to  this 
young  Indian,  there  can  arise  no  question  what- 
ever   as    to    the    great     influence    which    the 
7  PP.  176, 117. 


1 6  Cockenoe-de- Long  Island. 

instruction  and  information  thus  obtained  must 
have  had  on  his  subsequent  knowledge  of  the 
Indian  language.  It  also  indicates  how  close 
an  affinity  and  how  little  dialectical  difference 
existed  between  the  language  spoken  by  the 
eastern  Long  Island  Indians  and  that  of  the 
Natick  or  Massachusetts  Indians  to  which  his 
works  are  credited.  In  fact,  the  identity 
between  these  two  dialects  is  closer  than  exists 
between  either  of  them  and  the  Narragansett 
of  Roger  Williams,  as  can  be  easily  proven 
by  comparison.  Again,  Eliot,  in  his  grammar 
twenty  years  afterward,  as  I  have  before  quoted, 
by  so  confessing  his  obligation  to  his  young 
teacher  to  the  total  exclusion  of  Job  Nesutan, 
who  took  his  place,8  shows  how  he  appreciated 
the  instruction  first  imparted.  Eliot  having 
written,  in  the  winter  of  1648-49,  that  he  taught 

8  Eliot  wrote  October  21,  1650  :  "I  have  one  already  who  can  write, 
so  that  I  can  read  his  writing  well,  and  he  (with  some  paines  and  teaching) 
can  read  mine."  The  native  here  referred  to  was,  without  doubt,  Job 
Nesutan,  who  had  taken  the  place  of  the  Long  Island  Indian,  Eliot's 
first  instructor  in  the  language.  He  is  mentioned  by  Gookin  in  the 
History  of  the  Christian  Indians  as  follows:  "In  this  expedition 
[July,  1675]  one  of  our  principal  soldiers  of  the  praying  Indians  was 
slain,  a  valiant  and  stout  man  named  Job  Nesutan  ;  he  was  a  very  good 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  1 7 

this  Indian  how  to  read  and  to  write,  which  he 
quickly  learned,  though  he  knew  not  what  use 
he  then  made  of  the  knowledge,  it  becomes 
apparent  to  all  that  he  had  then  departed,  to 
Eliot's  great  regret,  from  the  scene  of  Eliot's 
labors  in  Massachusetts ;  and,  as  seems  to  have 
been  the  case,  had  returned  to  the  home  of  his 
ancestors  on  Long  Island  sometime  between 
the  fall  of  1646,  when  he  was  with  Eliot  in 
Waban's  wigwam,  and  the  winter  of  1649,  when 
Eliot  wrote.9  Whether  his  time  as  a  servant 
had  expired,  or  whether  he  longed  for  the 
country  of  his  youth  and  childhood,  we  perhaps 
shall  never  learn. 

At  this  point  the  interesting  question  arises, 
Can  we  identify  any  one  of  the  Long  Island 
Indians  of  this  period  with  the  "  interpreter"  or 
"pregnant  witted  young  man"  of  John  Eliot? 

linguist  in  the  English  tongue,  and  was  Mr.  Eliot's  assistant  and  inter- 
preter in  his  translations  of  the  Bible,  and  other  books  of  the  Indian 
language." — Bibliography  of  the  Alqonquian  Language  ;  Pilling  (Eames's 
Notes,  p.  127). 

'  In  the  summer  of  1647  Eliot  visited  some  more  remote  Indians  about 
Cape  Cod  and  toward  the  Merrimack  river,  where  he  improved  the 
opportunity  by  preaching  to  them.  It  is  probable  that  about  this  time 
his  interpreter  left  Dorchester. 


1 8  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

Here  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  evidence  is 
entirely  circumstantial  and  not  direct;  but  withal 
so  strong  and  so  convincing  as  to  make  me  a 
firm  believer  in  its  truth,  as  I  shall  set  it  forth 
before  you. 

I  shall  begin  my  exposition  with  the  Indian 
deed  of  the  East  Hampton  township,  dated 
April  29,  i648,10  where  we  find,  by  the  power 
acquired  by  the  grantees  from  the  Farrett  mort- 
gage of  1 64 1,11  that  Thomas  Stanton  made  a 
purchase  from  the  Indians  for  Theophilus  Eaton, 
Esq.,  Governor  of  the  Colony  of  New  Haven, 
and  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq.,  Governor  of  the 
Colony  of  Connecticut,  and  their  associates 
"for  all  that  tract  of  land  lyinge  from  the 
bounds  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Southampton, 
unto  the  East  side  of  Napeak,  next  unto  Meun- 
tacut  high  land,  with  the  whole  breadth  from 

10  East    Hampton    Records,  vol.  i.    pp.  3,  45  ;    Chronicles  of    East 
Hampton  ;  p.  113. 

11  Thompson's  History  of  Long  Island,  vol.  ii.  p.  311,  312,  313.     The 
rights  acquired  by  this  mortgage  are  very  explicit,  and  began  as  soon 
the  same  was  sealed  and  delivered.    Its  bearing  on  the  purchases  from  the 
Indians  by  the  Colonies  of  Connecticut  seems  to  have  been  overlooked 
by  all  our  historians. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  19 

sea  to  sea,  etc.,"  this  conveyance  is  signed  by 
the  four  Sachems  of  Eastern  Long  Island — to 
wit :  Poggatacut™  the  Sachem  of  Munhansett  ; 
Wyandanch™  the  Sachem  of  Meuntacut ;  Momo- 
weta^  the  Sachem  of  Corchake ;  Nowedonah™ 
the  Sachem  of  Shinecok,  and  their  marks  are 
witnessed  by  Cheekanoo,  who  is  thereon  stated 
to  have  been  "their  Interpreter"™ 

19  This  is  the  only  instance  in  the  early  records  of  Long  Island  where 
we  find  the  old  Sachem  of  Shelter  Island  called  Poggatacut.  I  believe  it 
to  have  been  rather  the  name  of  a  place  where  he  lived,  either  at  Cockles 
Harbor,  or  on  Menantic  Creek,  Shelter  Island.  Poggat-ac-ut  =  Pohqut- 
ack-ut,  "  at  the  divided  or  double  place."  Cockles  Harbor  is  protected 
on  the  north  by  two  Islands,  which  during  low  tides  are  one  Island.  It 
was  probably  the  sheltered  condition  of  this  harbor  which  gave  the  island 
its  Indian  name  as  well  as  its  English.  It  was  at  this  locality  that  Govert 
Loockmans  purchased  two  geese  from  the  chief  Rochbou  [Yoco]  in  1647. 
— Colonial  History  of  New  York,  vol.  xiv.  p.  94. 

^Wyandanch  =  Wayan-taunche,  "  the  wise  speaker  or  talker." 

14  Momo-wcta  =  Mohmd-wetuiS,  "  he  gathereth  or  brings  together  in  his 
house." 

15  Nowedonah  =  N'owi-dtfnoh,  "  I  seek  him,"  or  "  I  go  to  seek  him." 
This  Sachem  was  formerly  called  Witaneymen  or   Weenagamin,  and  he 
probably  changed  his  name  when  he  went  to  spy  out  the  enemies  of  the 
Dutch  in  1645  (Colonial  History  of  New  York,  vol.  xiv.  p.  60),  see  also 
Thompson's  Long  Island,  vol.  i.  p.  365,  Plymouth  Colonial  Records,  vol. 
ix.  p.  18,  where  he  is  called  Weenakamin,  i.  e.,  "  bitter  berry." 

16  The  original  of  this  deed  has  been  stolen  from  the  Town  Clerk's 
office  at  East  Hampton  ;  consequently,  I  am  unable  to  verify  the  spelling 
of  these  names.     On  some  copies  of  this  deed  this  name  is  printed 


20  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

Here  we  find  confronting  us,  not  only  a  re- 
markable, but  a  very  unusual  circumstance,  in 
the  fact  that  an  Indian  of  Long  Island,  who  is 
called  "  Cheekanoo"  is  acting  as  an  interpreter 
for  these  four  Sachems,  together  with  Thomas 
Stanton,17  another  well-known  interpreter  of  the 
Colonies,  as  an  intermediary  in  making  the  pur- 
chase. It  is  very  clear  to  me,  and  I  think  it 
will  be  to  all,  that  if  this  Indian  was  sufficiently 
learned  to  speak  English,  and  so  intelligent  as 
to  act  as  an  interpreter,  with  all  such  a  qualifi- 
cation would  indicate,  in  1648,  the  year  before 
Eliot  commended  his  ingenious  teacher,  and 
within  the  time  he  seems  to  have  returned  to 
Long  Island,  he  must  have  acquired  his  knowl- 
edge from  someone  who  had  taken  great  pains 
in  bestowing  it,  and  that  one  must  have  been 
John  Eliot.  We  have  found  that  Eliot  does 
not  mention  him  by  name  in  existing  letters ; 
but,  as  before  quoted,  simply  calls  him  his  "  In- 

Chectanoo;  an  evident  error,  for  in  no  other  instance  do  I  find  the  k  in 
his  name  replaced  by  a  t. 

11  See  Filling's  Algonquian  Bibliography  (pp.  396,  397),  for  a  brief 
sketch  of  Thos.  Stanton's  career  as  an  Interpreter  to  the  Commissioners 
of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  2 1 

terpreter";  therefore,  let  us  learn  how  a  transla- 
tion of  his  Long  Island  appellation  will  bear  on 
this  question. 

This  name,  Cheekanoo,  Cockenoe,  Chickino, 
Chekkonnow,  or  Cockoo, — no  matter  how  varied 
in  the  records  of  Long  Island  and  elsewhere, 
for  every  Town  Clerk  or  Recorder,  with  but  a 
limited  or  no  knowledge  of  the  Indian  tongue 
and  its  true  sounds,  wrote  down  the  name  as  it 
suited  him,  and  seldom  twice  alike  even  on  the 
same  page, — finds  its  parallel  sounds  in  the  Mas- 
sachusetts of  both  Eliot  and  Cotton,  in  the  verb 
kuhkinneau,  or  kehkinnoo,  "  he  marks,  observes, 
takes  knowledge,  instructs,  or  imitates "  ; 18 
hence,  "  he  interprets,"  and  therefore  indicating 
by  a  free  translation  "an  interpreter  or  teacher"  ; 
this  word  in  its  primitive  form  occurs  in  all  dia- 
lects of  the  same  linguistic  family — that  is,  the 
Algonquian — in  an  infinite  number  of  com- 

18  The  root  kuhkoo  or  kehkoo,  has  simply  the  idea  of  ' '  mark "  or  a 
"sign,"  which  in  Algonquian  polysynthesis  is  modified  according  to  its 
grammatical  affixes,  and  the  sense  of  the  passage  used,  when  translated 
into  an  alien  tongue.  But  it  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  its 
primary  meaning  was  never  lost  to  an  Indian — a  fact  well  known  to  all 
students  of  Indian  linguistics. 


22  Cockenoe-de- Long  Island. 

pounds,  denoting  "a  scholar;  teacher;  a  thing 
signified ;  I  say  what  he  says,  i.  e.,  repeat  after 
him,"  etc.19 

These  I  may  call  inferential  marks  by  the 
wayside,  and  with  what  is  to  follow  are  surely 
corroborative  evidence  strong  enough  to  enable 
me  to  assume  that  I  am  on  the  right  trail,  and 
that  "  Cheekanoo"  and  John  Eliot's  young  man 
were  one  and  the  same  individual.  In  its  ac- 
ceptance it  becomes  obvious  that  he  must  have 
been  so  termed  before  the  date  of  the  East 
Hampton  conveyance,  while  still  with  Eliot  in 
Massachusetts.  Indian  personal  names  were 
employed  to  denote  some  remarkable  event  in 
their  lives,  and  having  been  a  teacher  and  an 
interpreter  of  Eliot's,  and  continuing  in  the 
same  line  afterward,  which  gave  him  greater 
celebrity,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  retain 
the  name  throughout  his  life. 

A  little  over  two  weeks  after  the  East  Hamp- 
ton transaction,  by  a  deed  dated  May  16,  I64820 

19  Compare  the  various  derivates  from  the  Nipissing  (Cuoq)  kikina  and 
kikino  ;  Otchipwe  (Baraga)  kikino  ;  Cree  (Lacomb)  okiskino  ;  Delaware 
(Zeisberger)  kikino,  etc. 

*°  Book  of  Deeds,  vol.  ii.  p.  210,  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  Albany, 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  23 

(O.  S.),  Mammawetough,  the  Sachem  of  Cor- 
change,  with  the  possible  assistance  of  our  inter- 
preter, who,  it  seems  to  me,  could  not  have  been 
dispensed  with  on  such  an  occasion,  conveys 
Hashamomuck  neck — which  included  all  the  land 
to  the  eastward  of  Pipe's  Neck  creek,  in  South- 
old  town,  on  which  the  villages  of  Greenport, 
East  Marion,  and  Orient  are  located,  together 
with  Plum  Island  —  to  Theophilus  Eaton, 
Stephen  Goodyeare,  and  Captain  Malbow  of 
New  Haven.  This  is  known  as  the  Indian  deed 
for  the  "  Oyster  Ponds,"  and  while  Cheekanods 
name  does  not  appear  on  this  copy  of  a  copy, 
for  the  original  has  long  been  lost,  it  is  possible 
that  it  may  be  disguised  in  the  name  of  one  of 
the  witnesses,  Pitchamock. 

While  we  may  infer  from  the  foregoing  docu- 
ments that  his  services  must  have  been  neces- 
sarily in  constant  demand  by  the  colonists  in 
their  interviews  with  the  natives,  during  the 
four  years  following  the  making  of  these  deeds, 

N.  Y.  A  copy  of  this  deed,  from  a  contemporary  copy  made  by  Richard 
Terry,  then  on  sale  at  Dodd  &  Mead's,  New  York,  was  contributed  to  the 
Greenport  Watchman  by  Wm.  S.  Pelletreau,  June  6,  1891. 


24  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

we  do  not  find  him  again  on  record  until  Febru- 
ary 25,  1652 21  (O.  S.,  February  15,  1651),  when 
he  is  identically  employed  as  at  East  Hamp- 
ton, by  the  proprietors  of  Norwalk,  Conn., 
probably  on  the  recommendation  of  the  au- 
thorities at  New  Haven ;  and  his  name  ap- 
pears among  the  grantors,  in  two  places  on 
the  Indian  deed  for  the  Norwalk  plantation  as 
"  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island."  But,  as  he  did  not 
sign  the  conveyance,  it  shows  that  he  had  no 
vested  rights  therein,  but  simply  acted  for  the 
whites  and  Indians  as  their  interpreter.  From 
the  possible  fact  that  he  perhaps  erected  his 
wigwam  there  during  this  winter  and  spring  of 
1651-52,  thus  giving  it  a  distinctive  appella- 
tion, an  island  in  the  Long  Island  sound  off 
Westport,  Conn.,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Sauga- 
tuck  river,  bears  his  name  in  the  possessive  as 
"  Cockenoe's  Island "  to  this  day,  as  will  be 
noted  by  consulting  a  Coast  Survey  chart. 
That  the  name  was  bestowed  in  his  time  is 
proven  by  the  record  "that  it  was  agreed  (in 
1672)  that  the  said  Island  called  Cockenoe  is  to 

41  Hall's  Norwalk,  p.  35. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  25 

lie  common  for  the  use  of  the  town  as  all  the 
other  Islands  are."82  This  island  is  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  easterly  of  the  group  known 
as  the  "  Norwalk  Islands,"  or  as  they  were 
designated  by  the  early  Dutch  navigators,  the 
Archipelago.23  The  fact  that  his  name  is  dis- 
played on  this  deed  for  Norwalk,  and  as  the 
name  for  this  island,  has  been  a  puzzle  to  many 
historians ;  but  that  it  does  so  appear  is  easily 
accounted  for,  when  we  know  what  his  abilities 
were,  and  why  he  was  there. 

On  September  2,  I652,24  the  fall  of  the  year 
that  he  was  at  Norwalk,  he  appeared  before  the 
Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  of  New 
England,  then  assembled  at  Hartford,  as  their 
records  bear  witness  in  the  following  language  : 
"  Whereas  we  were  informed  by  Checkanoe  an 
Indian  of  Menhansick  Island,  on  behalf  of  the 

M  Hall's  Norwalk,  p.  62. 

93  Another  island  of  this  group  bears  the  personal  name  of  an  Indian 
who  was  called  Mamachimin  (Hall's  Norwalk,  pp.  30,  93,  97.  He 
joined  in  the  Indian  deed  to  Roger  Ludlow  of  Norwalk,  February  26, 
1640,  corresponding  to  March  8,  1641).  The  name  still  survives,  abbre- 
viated to  "  Chimons  Island." 

14  Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut,  vol.  iv.  p.  476. 


26  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

Indian  inhabitants  of  said  island,  that  they  are 
disturbed  in  their  possession  by  Captain  Mid- 
dleton  and  his  agents,  upon  pretense  of  a  pur- 
chase from  Mr.  Goodyeare  of  New  Haven,  who 
bought  the  same  of  one  Mr.  Forrett,  a  scotch- 
man,  and  by  vertue  thereof  the  said  Indians 
are  threatened  to  be  forced  off  the  said  island 
and  to  seek  an  habitation  where  they  can  get 
it ;  the  said  Indians  deny  that  they  sold  the 
said  island  to  the  said  Forrett ;  and  that  the 
said  Forrett  was  a  poor  man,  not  able  to  pur- 
chase it,  but  the  said  Indians  gave  to  the  said 
Forrett  some  part  of  the  said  Island  and  marked 
it  out  by  some  trees ;  yet  never,  that  them- 
selves be  deprived  of  their  habitation  there, 
and  therefore  they  desired  that  the  Commis- 
sioners (they  being  their  tributaries)  to  see  they 
have  justice  in  the  premises,  the  Commissioners 
therefore,  in  regard  the  said  Mr.  Goodyeare  is 
not  present,  and  that  he  is  of  New  Haven  juris- 
diction, and  at  their  Court,  to  hear  to  complaint 
of  the  said  Indians,  and  to  satisfy  the  said 
Indians  if  they  can,  if  not  to  certify  the  Com- 
missioners at  the  next  meeting,  the  truth  of 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  2  7 

the  premises ;  that  some  further  order  may  be 
taken  therein  as  shall  be  meet." 

As  the  result  of  this  emphatic  protest  by  Check- 
anoe,  and  in  evidence  of  its  truth  and  fairness, 
we  find  that  on  the  27th  of  December  follow- 
ing,25 Captain  Middleton  and  associates  were 
obliged  to  satisfy  the  Indians,  by  purchasing 
Shelter  Island,  or  as  it  was  called  by  the 
Indians  Manhansick  ahaquazuwamuck™  from 
the  Sachem  Yoco,  formerly  called  Unkenchie, 
and  other  of  his  chief  men,  among  whom  we 
find  one  called  Actoncocween*  which  I  believe 
to  be  simply  another  descriptive  term  for  our 
hero,  for  the  word  signifies  "an  interpreter," 
or  "he  who  repeats,"  i.  e.,  "  the  repeat 
man." 

This  sale   was  certified  to  at  Southold   the 

45  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  i.  pp.  96-97. 

48  Manhansick  ahaquazuwamuck  =  Manhan-es-et-ahaquazu<x>  amuck, 
"  at  or  about  the  island  sheltered  their  fishing-place,"  or  "  their  sheltered 
fishing-place  at  or  about  the  island,"  see  Brooklyn  Eagle  Almanac,  1895, 
p.  55,  "  Some  Indian  Fishing  Stations  upon  Long  Island." 

41  Compare  Delaware  (Zeisberger)  Anhuktonheen,  "interpreter, 
Ekhikuweet,  "  talker  "  ;  i.ena.pe(Brinton)AnA0&tonAen,  "  to  interpret  "; 
Otchipwe  (Baraga)  Anikanotageiuin,  " interpreter,"  or  "his  work  as  an 
interpreter,"  Anikanotage,  "  I  repeat  what  another  says." 


28  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

following  spring,28  but  the  deeds  themselves 
have  long  been  lost,  and  the  pages  of  the 
volume  on  which  they  were  entered  despoiled 
of  their  contents  by  some  vandal  years  ago. 
These  items  of  record,  however,  point  to  one 
conclusion,  that  if  the  owners  of  Shelter  Island 
were  unable  to  produce  Forrett's  deed  from  the 
Indians  in  1652,  which  they  seem  to  have  been 
unable  to  do,  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  it  will 
ever  be  discovered.  It  also  indicates  that 
Forrett's  title,  as  well  as  that  of  Mr.  Good- 
yeare,  rested  on  a  frail  foundation  as  far  as 
the  whole  island  was  concerned,  and  that  the 
Indians  were  right  in  their  protest. 

In  this  year  according  to  tradition,  or  what  is 
more  in  accordance  with  facts,  in  the  spring  of 
I^53,29  Yoco  Unkenchie  or  Poggatacut>  as  he  is 

*8  Southold  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  158. 

89  The  late  David  Gardiner  in  his  Chronicles  of  East  Hampton,  p. 
33,  and  other  Long  Island  historians  following  him,  place  this  event 
in  the  year  1651  ;  but  as  Yoco,  as  he  is  more  often  called,  united  with 
the  chief  men  of  his  tribe  in  the  deed  to  Captain  Middleton  and  associ- 
ates on  the  ayth  of  December,  1652,  a  date  which  was,  in  accordance 
with  our  present  mode  of  computing  time,  January  6,  1653,  would 
indicate  beyond  question  the  error  of  our  historians  in  assigning  his  death 
previous. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  29 

variously  named,  passed  away.  The  tribe,  now 
without  a  head,  and  weak  in  tribal  organization, 
migrated  from  Shelter  Island.  Some  went  to 
Montauk  and  to  Shinnecock,  while  a  few  united 
with  the  Cutchogues.  During  the  following 
three  or  four  years  much  alarm  was  created 
from  the  rumor  that  the  Dutch  were  endeavor- 
ing to  incite  the  Indians  against  the  English.30 
The  conduct  of  the  Montauks  and  Shinnecocks 
was  such  that  they  were  particularly  distrusted, 
and  they  were  forbidden  without  special  leave 
to  come  into  the  settlements.31  It  was  for- 
bidden to  furnish  them  with  powder,  shot,  or 


10  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  31  :  "  It  is  ordered  noe  Indian 
shall  Come  to  the  Towne  unles  it  be  upon  special  occasion  and  none  to 
come  armed  because  that  the  Dutch  hath  hired  Indians  agst  the  English 
and  we  not  knowing  Indians  by  face  and  because  the  Indians  hath  cast 
of  their  sachem,  and  if  any  of  the  Indians  or  other  by  night  will  come 
in  to  the  towne  in  despit  of  eyther  watch  or  ward  upon  the  third  stand 
to  shoote  him  or  if  thay  rune  away  to  shoote  him"  (April  26,  1653). 

31  Southampton  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  90  (April  25,  1653)  :  "At  agenerall 
court  Liberty  is  given  to  any  Inhabitant  to  sell  unto  ye  Sachem  any  manner 
of  vituals  for  the  supply  of  his  family  for  a  month's  time  from  the  date 
hereof,  Mr.  Odell  haveing  promised  to  use  his  best  endeavors  to  see  that 
the  said  Sachem  buy  not  for  other  Indians  but  for  his  particular  use  as 
aforesaid."  It  is  probable  from  the  following  note  that  this  Sachem 
was  Cockenoe. 


30  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

rum  ;  nence  we  find  but  little  recorded.  Again, 
the  war  carried  on  between  the  Montauks  and 
Narragansetts  began  in  this  year,  and  con- 
tinued for  some  years  with  great  loss  on  both 
sides.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  Cockenoe  took  any 
active  part  in  this  war,  or  at  least  in  its  earliest 
stages ;  for,  according  to  the  fragmentary 
depositions  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  James  and 
others,88  in  the  celebrated  Occabog  meadows  suit 
of  1667, — a  quarrel  over  a  tract  of  salt  meadow 
located  almost  within  sight  of  the  village  of 
Riverhead,  between  the  neighboring  towns  of 
Southampton  and  Southold, — Cockenoe  was 
then  residing  at  Shinnecock  with  his  first  wife, 
the  sister  of  the  four  Sachems  of  Eastern  Long 
Island,  who  united  in  the  East  Hampton  con- 

SJ  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  261  (Munsill's  History  of  Suf- 
folk County,  East  Hampton  Town,  see  Facsimile,  p.  13),  Extract  :  "  and 
the  Shinokut  Indians  had  the  drowned  Deere  as  theirs  one  this  side  the 
sayd  River  and  one  Beare  Some  years  since  ;  And  the  old  squaw  Said  by 
the  token  shee  eat  some  of  it  Poynting  to  her  teeth  ;  And  that  the  skin 
and  flesh  was  brought  to  Shinnocut  as  acknowledging  their  right  to  it 
to  a  saunk  squaw  then  living  there  who  was  the  old  Mantaukut  Sachems 
sister;  And  first  wife  to  Chekkanow."  In  the  trial  November  i,  1667 
(Colonial  History  of  New  York,  vol.  xiv.  p.  601),  an  Indian  testified : 
"  It  was  about  fourteen  yeares  agoe  since  the  beare  was  kill'd,"  which 
indicates  the  year  1653  as  the  time  the  Saunk  Squaw  was  living  at 
Shinnecock. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  3 1 

veyance.  She  was  at  this  date,  in  consequence 
of  the  death  of  her  brother  Nowedonah,  the 
Sunck  Squaw,  that  is,  the  woman  Sachem,  of 
the  Shinnecock  tribe — a  fact  which  proves  that 
by  marriage  he  came  into  the  house  of  the 
Sachems,  and  was  entitled  to  be  designated  as  a 
Sagamore,  as  we  find  him  sometimes  called. 
In  the  latter  part  of  August,  1656,®  Wyan- 

38  Hazard's  State  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  359.  As  this  record  has  never 
been  quoted  in  full  in  our  Long  Island  histories,  and  Hazard's  work  is 
quite  rare,  it  would  be  well  to  print  it  at  this  time,  viz.:  "  Upon  a  com- 
plaint made  by  Ninnegrates  messenger  to  the  Generall  Court  of  the 
Massachusetts  in  May  last  against  the  Montackett  Sachem  for  murthering 
Mr  Drake  and  some  other  Englishmen  upon  ours  near  the  Long  Island 
shore  and  seiseing  theire  goods  many  years  since  and  for  Trecherously 
assaulting  Ninnegrett  upon  block  Island  and  killing  many  of  his  men 
after  a  peace  concluded  betwixt  them  certifyed  to  Newhaven  by  the 
Massachusetts  Commissioners  by  a  Complaints  made  by  Awsuntawney 
the  Indian  Sagamore  near  Milford  and  two  other  western  Indians  against 
the  said  Montackett  Sachem  for  hiering  a  witch  to  kill  Uncas  with  the 
said  Milford  Sachem  and  his  son  giveing  eight  fathom  of  wampam  in 
hand  promising  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and  twenty  more  when  the  said 
murthers  were  committed  ;  Notice  whereof  being  given  to  the  said 
Montackett  Sachem  and  hee  Required  to  attend  the  Commissioners  att  this 
meeting  att  Plymouth  The  said  Sachem  with  five  of  his  men  came  over 
from  longe  Island  towards  the  latter  part  of  August  in  Captaine  Younges 
Barque  whoe  was  to  carry  the  Newhave  Commissioners  to  Plymouth  but 
the  Wind  being  contrary  they  first  putt  in  att  Milford.  The  Sachem 
then  desiring  to  Improve  the  season  sent  to  speake  with  Ausuntawey  or 
any  of  the  western  Indians  to  see  whoe  or  what  Could  bee  charged  upon 


32  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

danc/i,  the  Sachem  of  Montauk,  with  five  of  his 
men,  on  complaint  entered  against  him  by  the 
Narragansett  Sachem  Ninnegrate,  presented 
himself  before  the  Commissioners,  then  in  ses- 
sion at  Plymouth,  Mass.  Ninnegrate,  how- 

him  but  none  came  but  such  as  professed  they  had  nothing  against  him; 
The  Commissioners  being  mett  att  Plymouth;  The  said  Sachem  presented 
himselfe  to  answare  but  neither  Ninnegrett  nor  Uncas  nor  the  Milford 
Sachem  appeared,  only  Newcom  a  cuning  and  bould  Narragansett  Indian 
sent  by  Ninnegrett  as  his  Messinger  or  deputy  charged  the  long  Island 
Sachem  first  with  the  murther  of  Mr  Drake  and  other  Englishmen 
affeirming  that  one  Wampeag  had  before  severall  Indians  confessed  that 
hee  hiering  under  the  Montackett  Sachem  did  it  being  thereunto  hiered 
by  the  said  Sachem  which  said  Sachem  absolutly  deneyinge  and  Capt 
Young  professing  that  both  English  and  Indians  in  those  partes  thought 
him  Innocent  :  Necom  was  asked  why  himselfe  from  Ninnegrett  haveing 
layed  such  charges  upon  the  long  Island  Sachem  before  the  Massachu- 
setts Court  hee  had  not  brought  his  Proffe  ;  hee  answared  that  Wampeage 
was  absent  but  some  other  Indians  were  present  whoe  Could  speak  to  the 
case  ;  wherupon  an  Indian  afeirmed  that  hee  had  heard  the  said  Wampeage 
confesse  that  being  hiered  as  above  hee  had  murthered  the  said  English- 
men ;  though  after  the  said  murther  with  himselfe  that  now  spake  the 
Muntackett  Sachem  and  some  other  Indians  being  att  Newhaven  hee 
deneyed  itt  to  Mr  Goodyer  and  one  hundred  fathome  of  Wampam  being 
tendered  and  delivered  to  Mr  Eaton  the  matter  ended  ;  Mr  Eaton  pro- 
fessed as  in  the  presence  of  God  hee  Remembered  not  that  hee  had  seen 
Wampeage  nor  that  hee  had  Received  soe  much  as  one  fathom  of  wam- 
pam,  Nor  did  hee  believe  that  any  at  all  was  tendered  him  ;  wherupon 
the  Commissioners  caled  to  the  Indian  for  Proffe  Mr  Eaton  being  present 
and  deneying  it  the  Indian  answered  there  were  two  other  Indians  present 
that  could  speak  to  it  ;  they  were  called  forth  but  both  of  them  professed 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  33 

ever,  not  appearing  or  submitting  any  proof  of 
his  allegations,  Wyandanch  was  acquitted  of 
the  charges  with  much  honor.  At  the  same 
time  he  was  relieved  from  the  payment  of  the 
tribute,  then  four  years  in  arrears,  owing  to  his 

that  through  themselves  and  from  other  Indians  where  then  att  New- 
haven  yett  the  former  afermined  Indian  was  not  there  and  that  there 
was  noe  wawpam  att  all  either  Received  or  tendered  soe  that  the  long 
Island  Sachem  for  what  yett  appeered  stood  free  from  this  foule  Charge  ; 
2  Cond,  The  said  Newcome  charged  the  Montackett  Sachem  with  breach 
of  Covenant  in  asaulting  Ninnegreit  and  killing  divers  of  his  men  att 
Block  Island  after  a  conclusion  of  peace,  the  Treaty  whereof  was  begun 
by  a  Squaw  sent  by  Ninnigrett  to  the  said  Sachem  to  tender  him  peace 
and  the  Prisoners  which  the  said  Ninnigrett  had  taken  from  the  long 
Island  sachem  upon  condition  the  said  sachem  did  wholly  submitt  the 
said  message,  but  afeinned  hee  Refused  to  accept  the  Conditions  which 
hee  said  hee  could  not  without  advising  with  the  English  whereupon  the 
Squaw  Returned  and  came  backe  from  Ninnigrett  with  an  offer  of  the 
prisoners  for  Ransom  of  wanipam  which  hee  saith  hee  sent  and  had  his 
prisoners  Relieved,  Newcome  affeirmed  the  agreement  between  the  said 
Sachems  was  made  att  Pesacus  his  house  by  two  long  Island  Indians 
deligates  to  the  Montackett  Sachem  in  presence  of  Pesacus  and  his 
brother  and  others,  two  Englishmen  being  present  one  whereof  was 
Robert  Westcott  ;  Pesacus  his  brother  testifyed  the  agreement  as  afore- 
said. The  Muntackett  acknowlidged  hee  sent  the  said  Delligatts  but 
never  heard  of  any  such  agreement  and  deneyed  hee  gave  any  such  com- 
mission to  his  men,  Newcome  afeirming  Robert  Wescott  would  Testify 
the  agreement  aforsaid  and  desiring  a  writing  from  the  commissioners  to 
Lycence  the  said  Wescott  to  come  and  give  in  his  Testimony  which  was 
granted  and  Newcome  departed  pretending  to  fetch  Wescott  but  Returned 
Not :  The  Commissioners  finding  much  Difficulty  to  bring  theire  thoughts 


34  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

distressed  condition.  It  is  probable  that  Cocke- 
noe  was  one  of  the  five  men  accompanying  him 
on  this  occasion. 

He  again  makes  his  appearance  on  record  in 
165  7,M  when  he  laid  out  and  marked  the  bounds 
of  Hempstead  in  Queens  County,  by  order  of 
Wyandanch,  who  had  then  acquired  jurisdiction 
as  Sachem  in  chief  over  the  Indians  of  Long 
Island,  as  far  west  as  Canarsie.35  "  Chegonoe  " 

to  a  certaine  Determination  on  Satisfying  grounds  yett  concidering  how 
Proudly  Ninnigrett  and  how  peaceably  the  Montackett  Sachem  hath 
carryed  it  towards  the  English  ordered  that  a  message  the  contents 
whereof  heerafter  followeth  bee  by  Tho  Stanton  delivered  to  Ninnigrett 
and  that  for  the  cecuritie  of  the  English  plantations  on  long  Island  and 
for  an  Incurragement  to  the  Montackett  Sachem  the  two  first  particulars 
of  the  order  to  hinder  Ninnigretts  attempts  on  long  Island  ;  made  last 
year  att  New  Haven  bee  continued  ;  Notwithstanding  the  said  English 
are  Required  to  Improve  those  orders  with  all  moderation  and  not  by  any 
Rashness  or  unadvisednes  to  begin  a  broil  unless  they  bee  Nessesitated 
thereunto ;  The  Montackett  Sachem  being  questioned  by  the  Commis- 
sioners concerning  the  Painment  of  his  Tribute  Professed  that  hee  had 
Payd  it  att  hartford  for  ten  yeares  but  acknowlidged  there  was  four 
yeares  behind  which  the  Commissioners  thought  meet  to  respett  in 
respect  of  his  present  Troubles  ;  Plymouth  Sept  iyth  1656." 

84  Thompson's  Long  Island,  vol.  ii.  p.  9. 

85  This  protectorship  was  agreed  upon  and  confirmed  May  29,  1645,  by 
Rochkou-w  [  Yoco\  the  greatest  Sachem  of  Cotsjewaminck  (=  Ahaqnazu- 
wamuck).     See  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  vol.  xiv.  p.  60.     See  also 
Plymouth  Colonial  Records,  vol.  ix.  p.  18. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  35 

witnesses  the  sign  manual  of  his  Sachem,  who 
was  present,  on  the  confirmation  deed  of  July  4, 
I^57-36  This  deed  is  dated  1647,  as  given  in 
Thompson's  History  of  Long  Island.37  The 
mistake  is  again  repeated  in  Munsill's  History 
of  Queens  County,38  and  has  been  often  quoted 
by  others  quite  recently  ;  but  the  date  will  be 
found  correctly  given  in  the  Colonial  History  of 
New  York.39 

The  records  of  Hempstead  under  date  of 
March  28,  1658,  read:  "This  day  ordered  Mr 
Gildersleeve,  John  Hick,  John  Seaman,  Robert 
Jackson  and  William  Foster,  are  to  go  with 
Cheknow  sent  and  authorized  by  the  Montake 
Sachem,  to  marck  and  lay  out  the  generall 
bounds  of  ye  lands,  belonging  to  ye  towne  of 
Hempstead  according  to  ye  extent  of  ye  limits 
and  jurisdiction  of  ye  sd  towne  to  be  known  by 
ye  markt  trees  and  other  places  of  note  to  con- 
tinue forever."  These  boundaries  are  named  in 
the  release  of  the  following  May,  which  "  Check- 
now  "  witnesses.  The  appearance  of  his  name 

86  Thompson's  Long  Island,  vol.  ii.  p.  10.  w  P.  145. 

81  Ibid.,  p.  9.  89Pp.  416,  417. 


36  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

on  the  records  of  Hempstead,  and  on  these 
deeds,  has  led  some  writers  to  assume  that  he 
was  a  Sachem  of  the  Rockaways,40  an  error 
which  I  find  persistently  quoted. 

The  year  1658  was  a  busy  one  for  our 
Indian.  The  settlements  are  rapidly  spreading 
and  land  is  in  demand  by  incoming  colonists. 
On  June  10  he  laid  out  the  beach  to  the  west- 
ward of  the  Southampton  settlement,  giving 
Lion  Gardiner  the  right  to  all  whales  cast  up 
by  the  sea,  and  he  witnesses  the  grant  by  his 
Sachem.41 

On  August  17*  he  marked  out,  by  blaz- 
ing trees,  three  necks  of  meadow  for  the  inhab- 
itants of  Huntington,  on  the  south  side,  in  the 
western  part  of  the  present  town  of  Babylon, 
which  necks  were  afterward  in  controversy. 
The  village  of  Amityville  now  occupies  part  of 
the  upland  bordered  by  the  meadow.  It  states 
in  the  deed  "  that  Choconoe  for  his  wages,  and 
going  to  marke  out  the  Land  shall  have  for 

40  Indian  Tribes  of  Hudson's  River,  Ruttenber,  p.  73  ;  Munsill's  His- 
tory of  Queens  County,  p.  19. 

41  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  48. 
41  Huntington  Records,  vol.  i.  pp.  16,  17. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  37 

himselfe,  one  coat,  foure  pounds  of  poudar  six 
pounds  of  led,  one  dutch  hatchet,  as  also  seven- 
teen shillings  in  wampum,"  which,  together  with 
pay  for  the  land,  "  they  must  send  by  Chocka- 
noe"  Our  early  settlers  were  always  behind- 
hand in  their  payments,  and  in  this  case,  as 
evidenced  by  a  receipt  attached,  pay  was  not 
received  until  May  23  of  the  next  year,  when 
Wyandance  refers  to  "  the  meadow  I  sould  last 
to  them  which  my  man  Chockenoe  marked  out 
for  them." 

On  April  19,  I659,43  eleven  years  after  the 
purchase,  at  an  annual  town  meeting  of  the 
inhabitants  of  East  Hampton,  held  probably  in 
the  first  church  that  stood  at  the  south  end  of 
the  street,44  "//  was  agreed  that  Checanoe  shall 
have  ios  for  his  assistance  in  the  purchase  of  the 
plantacon"  Seemingly  a  dilatory  and  inadequate 
reward  for  such  a  service.  Money,  however, 
was  very  scarce  and  worth  something  in  those 
days,  and  we  cannot  gauge  it  by  the  light  of 
the  present  period.  In  comparison  we  can  only 

48  East  Hampton  Records,  vol  I.  p.  156. 
"Ibid.,  p.  66. 


38  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

refer  to  the  fact  that  Thomas  Talmadge  at  the 
same  period  was  only  paid  2OS,  or  double  the 
amount,  for  a  year's  salary  as  Town  Clerk. 
The  record,  however,  is  a  valuable  one,  and  is 
one  of  the  straws  indicating  the  esteem  and 
favor  in  which  Cockenoe  was  regarded  by  the 
townspeople  of  East  Hampton. 

That  Cockenoe  took  an  active  part  in  marking 
the  bounds  of  the  tract  of  land  between  Hunt- 
ington  and  Setauket,  now  comprised  in  the 
town  of  Smithtown,  presented  to  Lion  Gardiner 
by  Wyandanch  on  July  14,  i659,45  as  a  token  of 
love  and  esteem  in  ransoming  his  captive 
daughter  and  friends  from  the  Narragan setts, 

45  Book  of  Deeds,  vol.  ii.  pp.  118-19,  Office  of  the  Secretary  of  State, 
Albany.  The  original  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Long  Island  Histori- 
cal Society  :  "  Bee  it  knowne  unto  all  men,  both  English  and  Indians, 
especially  the  inhabitants  of  Long  Island  :  that  I  Wyandance  Sachame,  of 
Pamanack,  with  my  wife  and  son  Wiancombone,  my  only  sonn  and  heire, 
haveinge  delyberately  considered  how  this  twenty-foure  years  wee  have 
bene  not  only  acquainted  with  Lion  :  Gardiner,  but  from  time  to  time 
have  reseived  much  kindness  of  him  and  from  him,  not  onely  by  counsell 
and  advise  in  our  prosperitie,  but  in  our  great  extremytie,  when  wee  wee 
were  almost  swallowed  upp  of  our  enemies,  then  wee  say  he  apeared  to 
us  not  onely  as  a  friend,  but  as  a  father,  in  giveinge  us  his  monie  and 
goods,  wherby  wee  defended  ourselves,  and  ransomd  my  daughter  and 
friends,  and  wee  say  and  know  that  by  his  meanes  we  had  great  comfort 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  39 

is  worthy  of  note,  for  it  is  evident  that  the 
Sachem  had  no  one  else  so  capable.  In  confir- 
mation of  this  surmise  and  my  belief  that  he 
had  a  prominent  part  in  all  the  land  transac- 
tions of  Wyandanch,  my  friend  William  S. 
Pelletreau,  who  is  preparing  the  early  records 
of  the  town  of  Smithtown  for  publication, 
has  lately  found  recorded,  in  a  dispute  over 
the  lands  of  Smithtown,  a  deposition  taken 
down  by  John  Mulford  of  East  Hampton, 
dated  October  18,  1667,  which  reads:  " Pau- 
quatoun,  formerly  Chiefe  Councellor  to  the  Old 
Sachem  Wyandance  testifieth  that  the  Old 
Sachem  Wyandance  appointed  Sakkatakka  and 

and  reliefe  from  the  most  honarable  of  the  English  nation  heare  about 
us  ;  soe  that  seinge  wee  yet  live,  and  both  of  us  beinge  now  ould,  and  not 
that  wee  at  any  time  have  given  him  any  thinge  to  gratifie  his  fatherly 
love,  care  and  charge,  we  haveinge  nothing  left  that  is  worth  his  accept- 
ance but  a  small  tract  of  land  which  we  desire  him  to  Accept  of  for  him- 
selfe,  his  heires,  executors  and  assignes  forever  ;  now  that  it  may  bee 
knowne  how  and  where  that  land  lieth  on  Long  Island,  we  say  it  lieth 
betwene  Huntington  and  Seatacut,  the  westerne  bounds  being  Cowharbor, 
easterly  Arhata-a-munt,  and  southerly  crosse  the  Island  to  the  end  of  the 
great  hollow  or  valley,  or  more,  then  half  through  the  Island  southerly, 
and  that  this  gift  is  our  free  act  and  deede,  doth  appeare  by  our  hand 
martcs  under  writ."  Wayandance's  mark  represents  an  Indian  and  a 
white  shaking  hands. 


4O  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

Chekanno^  to  mark  out  the  said  Rattaconeck 
\CattaconecK\  lands,  and  after  that  ye  sd  Pau- 
quatoun  saw  the  trees  marked  all  along  the 
bounds  and  the  Sachem  being  with  him,  he 
heard  him  [the  Sachem]  say  it  was  marked 
right.  And  there  is  a  Fresh  pond  called 
Ashamaumuk®  which  is  the  parting  of  the 
bounds  of  the  foregoing  lands  from  where  the 
trees  were  marked  to  ye  pathway."  This 
"  Fresh  pond  "  was  at  the  northwest  bounds  of 
the  town  of  Smithtown. 

At  the  same  time  and  year,  probably,  as  it 
bears  no  date,  he  witnessed  the  sale  of  "Old 
Field"  by  Wyandance  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Setauket  in  the  town  of  Brookhaven.48  Also 
about  the  same  time  the  sale  of  "  Great  Neck 
or  Cattaconocke" 49  bounding  Smithtown  on  the 
east  as  referred  to  by  Pauquatoun. 

46  These  two  chief  men  of  the  Montauk  tribe  were  frequently  sent 
together  by  Wyandanch,  and  were  possibly  the  Delegates  sent  to  Pesacus 
at  Rhode  Island  as  stated  in  Note  33.     Sakkataka  or  Sasachatoko  was 
at  one  time  chief  counselor  of  the  Sachem  of  the  tribe.     He  was  still 
living  in  1702-03,  as  the  Montauk  conveyance  of  that  date  bears  witness. 

47  See  Brooklyn  Eagle  Almanac,  1895,  p.  55. 

48  Brookhaven  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  16. 

49 "  The  Name  of  the  Neck  aboves'd  ;  is  Cataconocke,  March  8  1666  " 


Cockenoe-de- Long  Island.  41 

On  February  10,  I66O,50  he  marked  out,  and 
also  witnessed  the  confirmation  of  the  sale  of 
Lloyd's  Neck,  in  the  town  of  Huntington,  by 
Wyancombone,  the  son  and  heir  of  the  late 
Sachem  Wyandanch,  who  had  passed  away,  and 
whose  son  was  then  acknowledged  by  both  the 
Indians  and  whites  as  the  chief  Sachem  of 
Long  Island.  His  name  on  this  copy  of  a  copy 
is  misspelled  as  Chacanico. 

In  the  confirmation  deed  for  Smithtown,  dated 
April  6,  i66o,51  by  Wyancombone,  the  land  is 
stated  to  have  been  laid  out  by  some  of  the 
chief  men  of  the  tribe  ;  these  men  are  named  in 
Pauquatouits  testimony.  In  the  copy  recorded 
in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Albany, 
N.  Y.,  Cockenoe  is  named  as  a  witness  in  the 
corrupt  form  of  Achemano.  He  united  on 
August  1 6,  I66O,52  with  the  rest  of  his  tribe 

(Brookhaven  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  16).  The  Indian  name,  of  which 
"great  neck"  is  probably  a  popular  translation,  signifies  "a  great 
field,"  Kehte-Konuk. 

50  Huntington  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  20. 

61  Book  of  Deeds,  vol.  ii.  p.   118,  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State, 
Albany,  N.  Y.;    George   R.  Howell  in   Southside    Signal,   Babylon, 
June  30,  1883. 

62  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  i.  172. 


42  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

at  Montauk,  in  the  first  Indian  deed  to  the 
inhabitants  of  East  Hampton  for  "  all  the 
aforesd  Necke  of  land  called  Meantaquit™  with 
all  and  every  parte  thereof  from  sea  to  sea." 

About  this  time  the  Meantaquit  Indians 
petitioned  the  Commissioners  of  the  United 
Colonies  of  New  England  for  protection  from 
the  cruelty  of  the  Narragansetts^with  the  result 
that  the  latter  were  ordered  not  to  come  within 
six  miles  of  the  English  plantations,  and  the 
former  not  to  begin  any  new  quarrels,  but  to 
behave  themselves  quietly,  without  provocation. 
The  fact  that  Cockenoe  was  then  living  at  Mon- 
tauk is  proof  that  he  must  have  been  one  of  the 
petitioners. 

Thomas  Revell,  a  merchant  of  Barbadoes, 
and  a  resident  of  Oyster  Bay,  L.  I.,  was  engaged 
with  Constant  Sylvester,  one  of  the  owners  of 
Shelter  Island,  together  with  James  Mills  of 
Virginia,55  and  John  Budd  of  Southold,  in  the 

63 "  The    Signification    of    the    name    Montauk,"     Brooklyn    Eagle 
Almanac,  1896,  pp.  54,  55. 

"East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  i.  p.   175  ;  Southold  Records,  vol.  i. 

P-  363. 

68  Southampton  Records,  vol.  ii.  pp.  14,  20,  209. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  43 

West  India  trade.  Through  his  partners,  or 
otherwise,  he  became  well  acquainted  with  our 
friend  Cockenoe,  and  employed  him  as  an  inter- 
preter in  buying  some  land  from  the  Indians 
in  Westchester  County,  N.  Y.  We  find  that 
Cockenoe  was  with  him  at  Manussing  Island,  at 
the  head  of  the  Long  Island  sound,  where  he 
gave  Revell  a  deed,  witnessed  by  John  Budd 
and  others,  dated  October  27,  1661,  which 
reads :  "  I  Cockoo  Sagamore  by  vertue  of  a 
full  and  absolute  power  and  order  unto  him 
and  intrusted  by  Mahamequeet  Sagamore 
&  Meamekett  Sagamore  &  Mamamettchoack 
&  Capt.  Wappequairan  all  Ingines  living  up 
Hudson  River  on  the  Main  land  for  me 
to  bargaine  &  absolutely  sell  unto  Thos 
Revell  .  .  .  And  fardder  more  I  doe  promise 
and  ingauge  myself  in  behalf  of  the  prenamed 
Ingaines  &  ye  rest  of  those  Ingains  which  I 
now  sell  this  land  for  and  them  to  bring  sud- 
denly after  ye  date  hereof,  for  to  give  unto 
Thomas  Revels  or  his  order  quiet  and  peacable 
possession,"  etc.,  etc.  This  tract  of  land  thus 
conveyed  was  in  the  present  township  of 


44  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

Mamaroneck,  Westchester  County,  N.  Y.  The 
power  of  attorney  given  to  Cockenoe  by  these 
Indians  reads:  "One  of  our  Councill  Cockoo  by 
name  an  Ingaine  the  which  we  do  approve  of 
and  do  confirm  whatsoever  the  said  Cockoo 
shall  doe  in  bargaining  and  selling  unto  Thos 
Revell  of  Barbadoes,"  etc.  This  power  of  attor- 
ney by  some  means  was  dated  two  weeks  after 
the  execution  of  the  deed,  and  in  the  litigation 
which  ensued  over  the  purchase  this  fact  ruined 
the  case  for  Revell.  This  deed  and  the  power 
of  attorney  were  both  recorded  at  Southampton, 
L.  I.,56  and  are  quoted  in  full,  with  particulars 
of  the  suit,  in  Sharf's  History  of  Westchester 
County,  N.  Y.,57  and  are  too  lengthy  to  dwell 
upon  at  this  time. 

Cockoo,  Cokoo,  Cockoe,  or  Cakoe,  as  his  name 
is  variously  given  in  the  papers  relating  to 
this  affair,  is  evidently  an  abbreviated  form  of 
Cockenoe.**  All  the  facts  recorded  in  connection 
with  it  point  to  him  and  to  no  one  else.  From 

"Southampton  Records,  vol.  ii.  pp.  15,  16. 

51  See   Mamaroneck,  by  Edward  Floyd  DeLancey,  Esq. ;  chap.  23, 
pp.  850,  851. 
M  See  Note  18. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  45 

the  context  of  the  papers,  he  was  a  strange 
Indian,  not  living  up  the  Hudson  river,  where  it 
is  stated  all  the  other  Indians  dwelt.  That  he 
was  acting  as  an  interpreter  is  evident — a  fact 
which,  as  I  have  before  observed,  was  a  very 
rare  qualification  for  an  Indian  of  that  period. 
Humphrey  Hughes,  whose  name  appears  as  one 
of  the  witnesses  on  Cockoo's  power  of  attorney, 
was  a  seaman  in  the  employ  of  Revell,  and  in 
his  various  capacities  as  a  sailor,  trader,  fisher- 
man, or  an  inhabitant,  is  frequently  mentioned 
in  the  records  of  both  South59  and  East  Hamp- 
ton towns  j60  hence  Cockenoe  was  no  stranger  to 
him.  Two  years  afterward  Hughes  witnessed 
the  renewal  of  the  Montauk  Squaw  Sachem's 
whaling  grant  to  John  Cooper  ;  therefore,  taking 
all  these  items  of  fact  into  consideration,  it  is 
not  at  all  strange  that  Cockenoe  should  have  been 
employed  by  Thomas  Revell  in  buying  land 
from  the  Indians  in  Westchester  County. 

On  February  21,  1662  61  (February  n,  1661) 

69  Southampton  Records,  vol.  ii.  pp.  14,  15,  et  seq. 

60  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  i.  pp.  159,  160,  et  seq, 

61  From  the  original  in  possession  of  the  owner  of  Montauk,  Frank 
Sherman  Benson,  Esq. 


46  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

Chekkonnow  again  united  with  his  tribe  in  the 
deed  known  as  the  "  Hither  Woods  "  purchase, 
"  for  all  the  piece  or  neck  of  land  belonging  to 
Muntauket  land  westward  to  a  fresh  pond  in 
a  beach,  on  this  side  westward  to  the  place 
where  the  old  Indian  fort  stood,  on  the  other 
side  eastward  to  the  new  fort  that  is  yet  stand- 
ing, the  name  of  the  pond  (Fort  Pond)  is 
Quaunontowounk  on  the  north,  and  Konk- 
honganik  on  the  south,"62  etc.  At  this  date, 
as  is  proven  by  the  above  wording  of  this  deed, 
the  Montauks  were  encamped  at  the  southern 
part  of  East  Hampton  village  m  under  the  pro- 

62  Quaunontowounk  =  Quaneunt v>unk  (Eliot),  "  where  the  fence  is," 
and  refers  to  the  "sufficient  fence  upon  the  north  side  of  the  pond." 
Compare  "  the  Indian  fence  at  Quahquetong,"  Trumbull's  Names 
in  Connecticut,  p.  58 ;  Konkhonganik  "  at  the  boundary  place," 
Kuhkunhunkganash^  "  bounds"  (Eliot),  Acts  xvii.  26.  The  agreement, 
Book  of  Deeds,  vol.  ii.  p.  123,  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  Albany, 
N.  Y.,  dated  October  4,  1665,  says  :  "  That  the  bounds  of  East  Hamp- 
ton to  the  East  shall  be  ffort  Pond,  the  North  ffence  from  the  pond  to 
the  sea  shall  be  kept  by  the  Towne.  The  South  ffence  to  the  sea  by 
the  Indyans."  Askikotantup,  daughter  of  the  Sachem  Wyandanch,  was 
Sachem  Squaw  of  Montauk  at  the  date  of  this  agreement. 

13  This  passage  reads  :  "  The  cruel  opposition  and  violence  of  our 
deadly  enemy  Ninecraft  Sachem  of  Narragansett,  whose  cruelty  hath 
proceeded  so  far  as  to  take  away  the  lives  of  many  of  our  dear  friends 
and  relations,  so  that  we  were  forced  to  flee  from  the  said  Montauk  for 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  47 

tection  of  the  settlers,  in  order  to  escape  the 
invasions  of  the  Narragansetts,  and  Montauk 
was  temporarily  abandoned. 

In  the  same  year  Checkanow  was  sent  with 
Tobis,  another  Indian,  by  order  of  the  Sachem 
Squaw,  widow  of  Wyandanch,  to  mark  out 
John  Cooper's  whaling  limits  on  the  beach  to 
the  westward  of  Southampton.64 

Some  of  the  boundaries  of  Huntington,  laid 
out  in  1658,  being  disputed  by  their  neighbors 
of  Oyster  Bay,  it  became  necessary  to  send  for 
Cockenoe  that  he  might  identify  his  former 
marks.  At  a  town  meeting  held  at  Huntington 
March  8,  I66465  (26-12-1663).  "It  was  voted 
that  when  Chiskanoli  come  that  Mr  Wood  shall 
have  power  to  agree  with  him,  and  the  town  to 
gratifie  him  to  show  the  boundaries  of  the 
necks  of  meadow  at  the  south  bought  by  the 
town." 

shelter  to  our  beloved  friends  and  neighbors  of  East  Hampton,  whom 
we  found  to  be  friendly  in  our  distress,  and  whom  we  must  ever  own 
and  acknowledge  as  instruments  under  God,  for  the  preservation  of  our 
lives  and  the  lives  of  our  wives  and  children  to  this  day." 

64  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  199. 

68  Huntington  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  58. 


48  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

In  the  following  spring66  "  Att  a  Generall 
meeting  of  yc  Deputyes  of  Long  Island  held 
before  ye  Governer  at  Hempstedd,  March  6th 
1664  (March  16,  1665),  It  is  this  day  ordered 
yl  ye  Towne  of  Huntington  shall  possesse  & 
enjoye  three  necks  of  meadow  land  in  Contro- 
versy between  ym  and  Oyster  bay  as  of  Right 
belonging  to  them,  they  haveing  ye  more  anncient 
Grant  for  them,  but  in  as  much  as  it  is  pre- 
tented  that  Chickano  marked  out  fouer  Necks 
for  Huntington  instedd  of  three,  if  upon  a 
joynt  view  of  them  it  shall  appeare  to  be  soe, 
then  Huntington  shall  make  over  the  outmost 
neck  to  Oyster  bay,"  etc. 

In  the  affirmation  by  John  Ketchum  and 
townsmen,  who  went  with  Cockenoe  to  these 
meadows  according  to  the  foregoing  order  of 
the  assembly,  we  find  the  following  interesting 
record:67  "When  wee  came  to  the  south  to 
our  meadows  wee  went  ovar  too  neckes  to  our 
naybours  who  had  called  massapeege  Indians, 
About  the  number  of  twentie,  whoe  opoased  us 
About  the  space  of  an  ower  and  would  not 

66  Huntington  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  58.  6T  Ibid.,  p.  90. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  49 

suffer  the  Indian  \Cockenoe\  to  goe  and  shew 
us  the  marked  tree,  then  we  show  the  Sachem 
\Tackapous hd\  the  writing  to  which  hee  had 
set  his  hand  which  was  our  acquitance,  and  yet 
hee  would  not  suffer  the  Indian  to  goe,  when 
wee  see  nothing  would  prevaile,  wee  took  our 
leave  of  them  and  said  wee  would  carry  backe 
this  anser  to  them  that  sent  us;  but  they  not 
willing  that  wee  should,  tooke  up  the  matter 
as  wee  did  apprihend  spake  to  the  Indians 
whoe  after  gave  leave  to  the  Indian  who  was 
Chickemo  to  goe  and  shew  us  the  tree,  many 
off  massapauge  Indians  went  with  us.  Thomas 
Brush  went  before  and  not  taking  notise  off  the 
tree  went  past  it  then  a  massapauge  Indian 
called  him  backe  and  shewed  him  the  tree  be- 
fore Chickenoe  came  neare  it,  when  Chickenoe 
came  to  the  tree  hee  said  that  was  the  tree 
hee  marked,  as  his  master  Commanded  him. 
Massapauge  Sachem  said  by  his  Interpriter  that 
hee  told  muntaulke  Sachem  that  hee  was  grived 
at  his  hart  that  hee  had  sould  that  necke  upon 
which  then  wee  was,  but  muntalket  Sachem 
tould  him  that  it  was  sould  and  it  could  not  bee 


5O  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

helped  and  therefore  bid  him  goe  and  Receve 
his  paye  and  so  hee  said  hee  did  :  and  alsoe 
massapauge  sachem  owned  his  Land  and  that 
he  had  Receved  the  goods." 

Thomas  Topping  of  Southampton  and  Wil- 
liam Wells  of  Southold,  two  of  the  Deputies, 
who  were  in  Huntington  at  this  time  by  order 
of  the  Assembly,68  "  touchinge  three  necks  of 
meadowe,  whch  Huntington  had  formerly  pur- 
chased of  Muntaukatt  Sarchem,  and  he  informs 
true  properiety  as  also  in  responsion  to  Oyster 
Bay  inhabitants,  who  lay  a  claime  to  part  of  the 
said  three  Necks,  saying  thare  are  fouer  necks 
&  one  thereof  belongs  to  them,  the  said 
Chickinoe  now  did  playnly  and  cleerly  demon- 
strate before  them  that  the  Tree  he  first  marked 
by  his  Master  Muntakett  Sachems  order,  and 
hath  a  second  tyme  denied  according  to  order, 
is  noe  other  but  that  whch  ought  justly  to  be 
owned  by  him  and  soe  marked  as  aforesaid, 
and  comprehends  only  Huntingtons  just  Pur- 
chase of  three  Necks  of  Medow  and  in  truth  is 
three  necks  of  medowe  &  not  four  according 

M  Huntington  Records,  vol.  i.  pp.  91,  92. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  5 1 

to  the  present  relation  of  Chickinoe"  The 
Huntington  men,  it  seems,  were  rather  greedy, 
and  Cockenoe,  true  to  their  interest,  and  having 
been  "gratified,"  was  trying  to  give  them  all 
they  claimed. 

The  Massapeag  Sachem  Tackapousha,  who 
has  put  on  record  "that  it  grived  his  hart"  to 
make  this  sale,  was  a  thorn  in  the  flesh  of  the 
settlers  of  these  two  towns  as  long  as  he  lived. 
It  was  utterly  impossible  to  satisfy  his  demands, 
The  records  show  that  both  the  English  and 
Dutch  were  obliged  to  buy  him  off  time  and 
time  again.69  He  is  one  of  the  most  selfish 
and  turbulent  characters  we  find  in  the  whole 
aboriginal  history  of  Long  Island.  Had  he 
and  his  tribe  been  more  powerful  than  they 
were,  they  would  have  left  a  bloody  page  on 
the  annals  of  Long  Island  ;  as  it  was,  it  was 
his  weakness  alone  that  prevented  it. 

On  November  3,  1669,  at  East  Hampton, 
before  the  Rev.  Thomas  James  and  others,70 
" Checkannoo?  with  other  chief  men  of  the 

69  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  vol.  xiv.  Index,  under  Tackapousha. 
™Ibid.,  p.  627. 


52  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

Montauk  tribe,  made  an  acknowledgment  in 
"  utterly  disclayming  any  such  vassalage  as 
Ninecraft  did  declare  to  the  Governor  at  Rhoad 
Island  &  doe  protest  against  it  in  our  owne 
names  &  in  the  name  of  ye  rest  of  ye  Indians  at 
Montaukett  &  doe  further  declare  that  he  shall 
have  no  more  wampom  of  us  without  approba- 
tion of  ye  Governour  of  this  place  &  that  we 
acknowledge  ye  Governour  at  New  Yorke  as 
our  chiefest  Sachem." 

The  same  year,  with  his  associates,  Cockenoe 71 
gave  a  certificate  that  many  years  before  they 
heard  the  old  Sachem  Wyandanch  declare,  in  a 
meeting  of  the  Indians,  that  he  gave  to  Lion 
Gardiner  and  Thomas  James  all  the  whales 
which  should  come  ashore,  at  any  time,  on 
Montauk.72 

On  December  i,  i67o,78  together  with  Pan- 
tuts,  alias  Mousup,  grandson  of  Wyandanch,  and 
other  chief  men  of  the  tribe,  "  Chekonnow " 

71  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  ii.  p.  33. 

74  The  date  of  this  gift  to  Gardiner  and  James  was  November  13,  1658. 
See  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  150. 

73  From  the  original  deed  in  possession  of  Frank  Sherman  Benson,  Esq. 
There  is  an  imperfect  copy  in  Ranger's  Deeds  of  Montauk,  1851. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  53 

joined  in  the  Indian  deed  for  the  land  between 
the  ponds,  to  John  Mulford,  Thomas  James,  and 
Jeremiah  Conkling.  This  conveyance  took  in 
all  the  land  to  the  southward  of  Fort  Hill  be- 
tween the  "  Ditch  plain  "  and  the  "  Great  plain," 
and  is  remarkable  for  its  Indian  names  of  bound- 
ary places.74 

By  an  entry  of  July  4,  I675,75  Cockenoe  was 
one  of  the  crew  engaged  by  James  Schellinger 
and  James  Loper  of  East  Hampton,  as  the 
record  states,  "uppon  the  Designe  of  whalleing 
.  .  .  During  ye  whole  season  next  ensuing," 
then  a  growing  industry  on  the  south  side.  This 
service  included  the  carting  and  trying  out  of 

74  These  boundaries  are  as  follows:  "bounded  by  us,  the  aforesaid 
parties  [*'.  e.,  the  Indians]  Wuchebehsuck,  a  place  by  the  Fort  pond,  being 
a  valley  southward  from  the  fort  hills  pond,  Shake hippitc huge  being  on 
the  north  side,  the  said  land,  midway  between  the  great  pond  and  fort,  so 
on  a  straight  line  to  Chabiaklnnauhsuk  from  thence  to  a  swamp  where 
the  haystacks  stood  called  Afahchongitchuge,  and  so  through  the  swampe 
to  the  great  pond,  then  straight  from  the  haystacks  to  the  great  pond,  so 
along  by  the  said  pond  to  a  place  called  Manunkquiaug,  on  furthest 
side  the  woods,  growing  on  the  end  of  the  great  pond  eastward,  and  so 
along  to  the  sea  side  southward,  to  a  place  called  Coppauhshapaugausuk, 
so  straight  from  thence  to  the  south  sea,"  etc.     See  Indian  Names  in 
the  Town  of  East  Hampton,  Tooker,  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  iv. 
p.  i-x. 

75  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  379. 


54  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

the  oil  at  some  convenient  place,  for  which  the 
crew  were  to  receive,  "  one  halfe  of  one  share 
of  all  profit  what  shall  bee  by  us  gotten  or 
obtained  During  ye  said  terme  of  time." 

The  Indians  of  Long  Island  were  disarmed 
in  this  year  on  account  of  King  Philip's  war, 
and  on  October  5 76  Mosup  the  Sachem,  grand- 
son of  Wyandanch,  with  Pekonnoo  [an  error  for 
Chekonno\  Counselor,  and  others,  made  suppli- 
cation by  a  letter  written  by  Rev.  Thomas 
James  to  Governor  Andros  at  New  York, 
"  Alledging  the  fact  that  they  had  always  been 
friends  to  the  English  and  their  forefathers 
before  them,  and  this  time  of  war  fighting  with 
the  English  Captains,  desired  that  their  guns 
might  be  returned,  as  it  was  the  usual  time  of 
hunting."  Owing  to  an  indorsement  on  the 
back  of  this  letter,  written  a  week  after  by 
James,  on  mature  consideration,  the  request  in 
its  entirety  was  not  granted.77 

18  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  vol.  xiv.  pp.  699,  700. 

"James  wrote:  "The  lines  upon  the  other  side  I  wrote  upon  the 
desire  of  the  Sachem  &  his  men,  they  were  their  owne  words  &  the 
substance  thereof  they  also  had  expressed  before  Mr  Backer,  but  since 
my  writeing  of  them  wch  was  almost  a  week  since,  I  perceive  that 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  55 

On  June  23,  I677,78  Cockenoe  appeared  before 
Governor  Andros  and  Council  at  New  York,  in 
behalf  of  the  inhabitants  of  Hampstead,  who 
were  having  trouble  with  the  Indians  in  their 
neighborhood,  regarding  land  laid  out  by  him 
in  1657,  twenty  years  before,  to  which  I  have 
previously  referred.  At  the  same  council  he 
interpreted  the  speech  of  Weamsko,  the  Sachem 
of  Seacotauk  in  Islip,  who  claimed  the  Nesquak 
\Nissequogue\  lands ;  also  the  speech  of  Swa- 
neme,  who  pretended  to  own  the  land  called 
Unchemau  [Fresh  Pond]  near  Huntington.  In 
the  copy  from  which  this  has  been  taken  he  is 
called  Checkoamaug,  an  evident  error  of  some 
transcriber. 

We  find  him  occasionally  employed   by   the 

delivering  up  the  armes  to  the  Indians  doth  not  relish  well  with  the 
English,  especially  since  of  late  we  heard  of  the  great  slaughter,  they 
haue  made  upon  the  English  in  other  parts  of  the  country ;  I  per- 
ceive att  Southampton  ye  English  are  much  troubled  ye  Indians  haue 
their  armes  &  I  thinke  it  doth  much  disturbe  ye  spirits  of  these  haue 
them  not  ;  as  for  these  Indians  for  my  owne  part  I  doe  thinke  they  are 
as  Cordiale  freinds  to  the  English  as  any  in  ye  Country  &  what  is 
written  by  ym  is  knowne  to  many  to  be  y«  truth,  though  God  knows 
their  hearts,"  etc. 
T8  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  vol.  xiv.  p.  728. 


56  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

proprietors  of  Montauk,  especially  in  the  year 
1682,  when  he  is  "paid  9*  for  keeping  the 
Indian  corne"™  and  as  much  "for  burneing 
Meautauk"**  which  was  done  every  spring  to 
free  the  land  from  underbrush  and  weeds. 

The  years  are  now  rapidly  fleeting,  and 
Cockenoe  is  advancing  in  years  with  the  settle- 
ments. The  power  of  the  Montauks  is  a  thing 
of  the  past  ;  they  exercise  no  control  over 
the  rest  of  the  Long  Island  Indians,  who  con- 
vey land  without  the  assent  of  the  Montauk 
Sachem.  As  most  of  the  younger  generation 
of  the  natives  can  speak  English,  probably  as 
well  as  he,  there  is  no  necessity  for  him  to  inter- 
pret. He  is  now  about  the  last  of  his  genera- 
tion still  exercising  the  right  as  a  member  of 
the  house  of  the  Sachems,  in  the  councils  of  the 
clan;  and,  on  August  3,  i687,81  he  unites  once 
more  with  the  members  of  his  tribe  in  the  Mon- 
tauk conveyance  to  the  inhabitants  of  East 
Hampton  :  "  For  all  our  tract  of  land  at  Man- 

19  East  Hampton  Records,  vol.  ii.  p.  109. 
*>Ibid.,  p.  in. 

81  The  originals  of  the  Montauk  Indian  deeds  are  in  the  possession  of 
Frank  Sherman  Benson  of  Brooklyn. 


Cockenoe-de- Long  Island.  57 

tauket,  bounded  by  part  of  the  Fort  Pond,  and 
Fort  Pond  Bay  west ;  the  English  land  south 
by  a  line  from  the  Fort  Pond  to  the  Great 
Pond  ...  to  the  utmost  extent  of  the  Island 
from  sea  to  sea,"  etc.,  and  then  he  retires  from 
our  view  forever  on  the  records  of  the  past. 

At  the  time  of  making  this  deed,  half  a  cen- 
tury had  elapsed  since  the  conflict  on  the  hills 
of  Mystic — fifty  eventful  years  in  the  history  of 
our  Colonies.  If  he  was  twenty-five  years  of 
age  when  he  parted  from  Eliot  in  1646  or  1647, 
he  had  then  reached  threescore  years  and  five ; 
not  by  any  means  an  aged  man,  but,  for  all 
we  know,  he  may  have  lived  for  some  years 
afterward.88 

There  may  be  other  recorded  facts  relating 
to  his  life  which  I  have  overlooked,  or  they 
may  lie  buried  in  the  time-stained  archives  of 
other  Long  Island  and  New  England  towns — 

81  As  his  name  does  not  appear  among  the  grantors  on  the  confirma- 
tion deed  for  Montauk,  dated  March  3,  1702-03,  we  must  accept  it  as 
sufficient  evidence  that  he  had  passed  away  before  that  date  ;  although 
his  associate  and  companion  Sasachatoko  was  still  living,  an  aged  man. 
Rev.  Thomas  James  died  June  16,  1696,  after  a  ministry  of  about  forty- 
five  years. 


58  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

inaccessible,  undecipherable,  and  unpublished — 
which  some  future  historian  may  unfold  and 
bring  to  light.83  The  seeds  of  knowledge  planted 
by  Eliot  on  the  fertile  field  of  this  native's  mind 
bore  good  fruit,  even  if  his  preceptor  did  write 
at  an  early  day  he  knew  not  what  use  he  then 
made  of  it.  For  the  part  he  took  in  the  rise 

84  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  left  us  so  little  relating  to  the  Rev. 
Thomas  James  and  his  knowledge  of  the  Indians  of  Montauk.  The  few 
depositions  and  letters  he  left  show  that  his  knowledge  of  Indian  tradi- 
tions and  customs  must  have  been  quite  extensive.  In  September,  1660, 
he  informed  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  then  in  session 
at  New  Haven,  that  he  was  "willing  to  apply  himself,  to  instruct  the 
Indians"  of  Long  Island,  "in  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God."  An 
allowance  of  ;£io  was  therefore  made  for  him  "  towards  the  hiering  of  an 
Interpreter  and  other  Charges."  In  1662  he  was  paid  £20  "  for  Instruct- 
ing the  Indians  on  Long  Island,"  and  the  same  allowance  was  continued 
for  the  two  following  years.  In  a  letter  from  Governor  Lovelace  to  Mr. 
James  (Colonial  History  of  New  York,  vol.  xiv.  pp.  610-11,  we  find: 
"  I  very  much  approve  of  yo>"  composure  of  a  Catechisme.  .  .  That  wch 
I  shall  desire  from  yo"  at  p'sent  is  the  Catachisme  with  some  few  select 
chapters  &  Lauditory  Psalms  fairly  transcribed  in  the  Indian  Language 
wch  I  wiil  send  over  to  England  &  have  quantityes  of  them  printed  &  if 
you  thinke  it  necessary  I  conceive  a  small  book  such  as  shal  only  seme  to 
the  instructing  y«  Indians  to  read  may  likewise  be  compiled  &  sent  with 
them,"  etc.  The  Catechism  referred  to  above  was  probably  never 
printed  (Filling's  Algonquian  Bibliography,  p.  569).  It  cannot  be  pos- 
sible that  James  neglected  to  avail  himself  of  Cockenoe's  knowledge. 
The  facts  presented  in  this  paper  would  indicate,  from  James'  reference 
to  him,  that  he  found  him  a  valuable  assistant  for  many  years. 


Cockenoe-de-Long  Island.  59 

and  development  of  our  settlements — a  life 
work,  unparalleled  by  that  of  any  other  Long 
Island  or  New  England  Indian — he  deserves  to 
be  enrolled  upon  the  page  of  honor. 

And  now,  amid  the  rolling  hills  of  Montauk, 
which  he  loved  so  well,  and  within  sound  of 
the  everlasting  murmur  of  the  mighty  ocean, 
which  he  so  often  heard,  in  a  grave  unmarked 
and  unknown,84  he  sleeps  to  await  the  resurrec- 

84  The  numerous  valleys  and  hilly  slopes  of  the  "  North  Neck,"  to  the 
northeast  of  Fort  Pond,  are  dotted  in  many  places  by  Indian  graves. 
The  pedestrian  will  meet  with  them  in  the  most  isolated  spots  ;  but 
generally  near  swamps  and  ponds  in  proximity  to  wigwam  or  cabin  sites. 
The  two  principal  are  located  at  "  Burial  Place  Point,"  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  Great  Pond,  and  on  the  top  of  Fort  Hill.  The  outlines  of  the 
Fort  still  visible  (which  was  yet  standing  in  1662)  now  inclose  forty 
graves,  each  marked  by  cobblestones  laid  thickly  along  the  tops.  The 
tramping  of  cattle  has  obliterated  all  traces  of  mounds,  and  the  stones 
are  generally  on  a  level  with  the  surface.  On  the  outside,  in  close  prox- 
imity to  the  others,  are  ten  more,  while  on  the  slope  of  the  hill  to  the 
northwest — the  hill  not  being  so  abrupt  in  its  descent  at  this  point — are 
eighty-six  more  graves  ;  making  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-six 
buried  on  this  hill.  All  are  marked  in  the  same  manner,  the  last  being 
covered  by  a  thick  growth  of  blackberry  vines  and  bayberry  bushes, 
and  would  not  be  noticed  by  the  careless  observer.  One  of  the  graves, 
inside  the  outlines  of  the  Fort,  has  an  irregular  fragment  of  granite  for  a 

headstone  ;  on  it  is  carved  very  rudely  — — .    This  is  evidence  that  the 

B  R 

graves  on  this  hill  were  all  subsequent  to  the  erection  of  the  Fort,  and 


60  Cockenoe-de-Long  Island. 

tion  morn.  A  scarred  and  battered  fragment 
from  nature's  world — a  glacial  bowlder,  typical 
of  the  past — should  be  his  monument85 — on  one 
side  a  sculptured  entablature,  inscribed : 

"  To  the  Memory  of  a  Captive  in  the  Pequot 
War,  the  first  Indian  Teacher  of  John  Eliot  ; 
A  firm  friend  of  the  English  Colonists ;  Cock- 
enoe-de-Long Island." 

are  not  very  ancient.  Those  at  "  Burial  Place  Point "  look  much  older, 
and  some  of  the  graves  there  are  simply  depressions  not  marked  by  any 
stones.  In  the  "  Indian  Field,"  to  the  northwest  of  Great  Pond,  are  many 
more. 

86 1  would  suggest  placing  this  at  the  top  of  Fort  Hill,  and  thus  pre- 
serving the  hill  and  graves  forever  as  a  memorial. 


THE     END. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


QLJAN23 


,rarv 
!) 
41995 


3  0  2002 


UCLA  ACCESS  SERVICES 
Interliprary  Loanr 


11630 


BOX  t  51 575 


Los  A 


FEBMtB 


Young  Research  Li  )rary 


igeles,  CA.  90095- 


BL19 


Form  L9-Series  4939 


PLEASE  DO  NOT  REMOVE 
BOOK  CARD 


University  Research  Library 


